1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a support server, support method, and a program for supporting determination of a providing route of a content, provided via a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a film is created by a film creator, a distribution film is distributed to the movie theaters that run the film. Concretely, the film creator creates a master film by shooting and editing. Then, the film creator creates the necessary number of edited films from the master film, and sends the edited film to the distributing agency. The distributing agency creates a large quantity of distribution film from the received edited film, and distributes the distribution film to the movie theaters. When the running period of the film ends, the distributed film is returned from the movie theater.
By the above distribution method, there is a need to create a large quantity of distribution film, and the distribution film needs to be distributed and collected. Consequently, a lot of time is necessary, and a high cost is required.
As disclosed in the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No.2002-118834, and Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No.2002-171471, lately, a system for distributing films as film data in the form of electronic data, to distributing agencies and movie theaters via a communication network, instead of physical film, is proposed.
Even if film data is distributed via a communication network, there is a need to determine in advance, which distributing agency distributes the film data to which movie theater.
However, a system for determining (selecting) a distribution route of film data, does not exist. Therefore, the distribution route must be determined according to each film, by negotiation among the film creator, distributing agency, and the manager of the movie theater. Even if film data is distributed instead of films, there is a problem that the bothersome operation of determining the distribution route of the film data, is not resolved.
Additionally, the number of people who participate in the negotiation for determining the distribution route, is limited. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to determine an adequate distribution route for respectively providing success to the film creator, the distributing agency, and the manager of the movie theater.
The same problems occur when distributing other contents, such as image data and moving image data to a user (for example an agency that carries out some kind of event using a content at a pubic hall or a concert hall), via a communication network
The content of the above Unexamined Japanese Patent Applications are incorporate herein by reference in their entirety.